UnSlut - Film Screening and Discussion

In 2013, seventeen-year-old Rehtaeh Parsons took her own life. The Halifax teenager had been gang-raped a year and a half earlier by her classmates and labeled a "slut" as a result. Despite transferring schools many times, she could not escape constant cyber harassment and in-person bullying. Rehtaeh's is not the only story like this to make headlines in recent years. Why is the sexual shaming of girls and women, especially sexual assault victims, still so prevalent in the United States and Canada? UnSlut: A Documentary Film features conversations with those who have experienced sexual shaming, including the family and friends of Rehtaeh Parsons. We also spoke with Samantha Gailey Geimer, who was publicly shamed by the media after being sexually assaulted by director Roman Polanski at the age of thirteen in 1977; Gina Tron, who wrote about her experience being shamed out of pursuing charges against a serial rapist in Brooklyn, New York; N'Jaila Rhee, who coped with her sexual assault and the subsequent loss of support from her family and church by reclaiming her sexuality as a "cam girl"; and Allyson Pereira, who was ostracized in her New Jersey town after texting a photo of her breasts to an ex-boyfriend. Through interviews with sexuality experts, advocates, and media figures, UnSlut: A Documentary Film explores the causes and manifestations of sexual shaming in North America and offers immediate and long-term goals for personal, local, and institutional solutions.

 

​UnSlut: A Documentary Film is currently being screened in theaters, community centers, schools, and living rooms all over the world. It was awarded Best Documentary at the 2016 California Women's Film Festival, Honorable Mention for Best Documentary at the 2016 Cleveland International Film Festival, the award for Feminism in Film at the Women's Independent Film Festival, the Award of Outstanding Excellence and Best Content at the Depth of Field International Film Festival, and the Spirit of Action prize at the Santa Cruz Film Festival. UnSlut ​is also an official selection of the Port Townsend Film Festival, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, Julien Dubuque International Film Festival, New York City Independent Film Festival, California Independent Film Festival, Female Eye Film Festival in Toronto, The Women's Film Festival in Philadelphia, Big River Film Festival, The Awareness Film Festival, Columbus International Film and Video Festival, South Bay Music and Film Festival, Glendale International Film Festival, Utopia Film Festival, Green Mountain Film Festival, New Hope Film Festival, Livermore Valley Film Festival, BOOST Film Festival, and the CASCADIA Women's International Film Festival. UnSlut was also screened for audiences at the 2015 International Bullying Prevention Association's conference, the 2015 Eyes Open Iowa conference, the 2016 National Association for Campus Activities conference, and the Western Psychological Association's 2016 Convention, and the 2016 American Psychological Association Film Festival in Denver, Colorado.